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By JOHN TAGLIABUE of The New York Times

SAMSO,Denmark-- The people of thisDanish islandhave seen the future, and it is dim and smells vaguely of straw.

With no traffic lights on the island and few street lights, driving its roads on a cloudless night is like piercing a black cloud. There is one movie theater, few cars and even fewer buses, except for summer, when thousands of tourists multiply the population.

Yet last year, Samso (pronounced SOME-suh) completed a 10-year experiment to see whether it could become energy self-sufficient. The islanders, with generous amounts of aid from mainland Denmark, busily set themselves about erectingwind turbines, installing nonpolluting straw-burning furnaces to heat their sturdy brick houses and placing panels here and there to create electricity from the island's sparse sunshine.

By their own accounts, the islanders have met the goal. For energy experts, the crucial measurement is called energy density, or the amount of energy produced per unit of area, and it should be at least 2 watts for every square meter, or 11 square feet. "We just met it," said Soren Hermansen, the director of the local Energy Academy, a former farmer who is a consultant to the islanders.

In December, when theUnited Nations-sponsoredsummit meeting on climatechange convenes in Denmark, many of the delegates will be swept out to visit Samso. They will see its successes, but also how high the hurdles are for exporting the model from this little island, a hilly expanse roughly the size of the Bronx.

On a recent visit, Mr. Hermansen recounted, the Egyptian ambassador to Denmark admired all the energy-creating devices the islanders had installed, then asked how many people lived here. When he was told about 4,000, he replied with exasperation, "That's three city blocks in Cairo!" Undaunted, Mr. Hermansen told him, "That's maybe where you should start, not all of Egypt, take one block at a time."

Jorgen Tranberg, 55, agreed. "If there were no straw, we'd have no fuel, but we have straw," he said, sipping coffee on the 250-acre dairy farm where he milks 150 Holsteins. "Everywhere is different," he said. "Norway has waterfalls, we have wind. The cheapest is oil andcoal, that's clear." The farmers, he said, used to burn the straw on their fields, polluting the air. Now, they use it to heat their homes.

Counting only the wind turbines on the island, but not those that the islanders have parked offshore in the Kattegat Strait, the island produces just enough electricity for its needs. (With the offshore turbines it can even export some.) However, its heating plants, burning wheat and rye straw grown by its farmers, cover only about 75 percent of the island's heating needs, continuing its reliance on imported oil and gas.

The islanders have been inventive. Mr. Tranberg uses a special pump to extract the heat from his cows' milk, then uses the warmth to heat his house. He has even invested in wind turbines. He purchased one outright for $1.2 million, with a bank loan; it now stands in a row of five just behind his brick farmhouse. He later bought a 50 percent stake in another turbine.

But all that spins is not gold, he soon found out. When a gearbox burned out in one mill three years ago, the repair cost more than $150,000. He did not say how much he makes from selling the electricity.

Energy experts emphasize that it is crucial for the islanders to squeeze energy out of their island without relying heavily on sea-based turbines. Not every region of the world is blessed with an expanse of thousands of miles of ocean at its doorstep.

ANOTHER LIFE: Arriving once, in innocence and at the wrong or right
time (depending on one's sensibilities) at the cliffs above Achill's
Keem Bay, I found myself watching the execution of a large basking
shark trapped in nets in the water below. As a lance was thrust from
the crowding currachs, the scene had little in common with bold battles
in wild seas re-enacted for Flaherty's famous "documentary" Man of
Aran. Blood trailed briefly through the limpid water as the beast was
towed ashore for the great oily liver that made, perhaps, one third of
its weight.

Forty years on from the peak of the Achill
enterprise that killed 12,342 of the world's second largest fish, Irish
marine researchers have had an amazing summer. In forays off Inishowen
in Co Donegal and around the Blasket Islands off Kerry, they caught up
with no fewer than 101 of the sharks swimming at the surface and
reached out from their rib with extendable painter's poles to plant
colour- coded tags in the dorsal fins.

Even a decade ago, remarkably little
was known about the comings and goings of Cetorhinus maximus.What had
been sorted out was its maximum size (rarely more than 10 metres) and
phenomenal, open- mouthed throughput of ocean (nearly 1,500 cubic
metres every hour) to gulp the pink-centred zooplankton, Calanus, that
fills its stomach with something like tomato ketchup.

HEROIC EFFORTS by the crew of a Galway hooker to save two brothers
whose boat had capsized were praised by a priest at the funeral of a
renowned Connemara sailor yesterday.

Fr Peadar Ó Conghaile told
hundreds of mourners, who filled not just the church but also the
grounds of St Mary's Church in Carna, that the four crewmen should get
medals for bravery.

Seán Mac Donncha (67), known locally as
Johnny Sheáin Jeaic, lost his life in the accident on Saturday morning
as he and his younger brother Josie, went to take their traditional
Galway hooker McHugh from Kinvara in the south of the bay to a regatta in Rossaveal. The boat capsized shortly after leaving Kinvara.

Mourners were yesterday told how the crew of
Bláth na hÓige , which also left from Kinvara, came to their
aid. The four men, Gearóid Ó Cualáin, Máirtín Ó Conghaile, Aonghus Ó
Cualáin and Máirtín Ó Ceoinín, managed to rescue Josie but they were
unable to save his brother.

"These men, especially Gearóid Ó
Cualáin, risked their lives to save others," said Fr Ó Conghaile. The
Carna parish priest said that, as in so many other coastal villages,
loss at sea was all too frequent. Hundreds of mourners brought the
small south Connemara village to a standstill.

St Mary's was packed from early morning and the mourners extended out on to the main road in the village.

They
had travelled from the three nearby Aran Islands, Inishbofin and other
offshore islands, as well as coastal communities from Cork to Donegal.
Others had travelled from the United States where wider family members
reside.

"We are all too familiar with loss at sea in these parts,
yet there was enormous shock when the news came through on Saturday
morning," Fr Ó Conghaile said.

"Johnny was a man who was renowned
and respected as a man of the sea, a lover of the Irish language and
Irish culture, and a great singer. He is an enormous loss to the
community."

Mr Mac Donncha, from Ard West, Carna, is survived by
his wife Barbara, daughters Kathy, Maureen, Roisín and Fiona, and son
Seán. He was buried in Moyrus cemetery outside Carna.

Filming Pádraic Connolly a tPoll na Peist, aka the Serpent's Cave or the Worm Hole on Inis Mór, for Tourism
Ireland's online film highlighting the 'hidden gems' of County Galway

Galwayman
Pádraic Connolly is doing his bit for tourism this year by presenting a
short film on the 'hidden gems' of Co Galway on Tourism Ireland's
website. It is one of a series of ten short films or 'webisodes' which
have already been viewed by almost 400,000 potential visitors around
the world - see here for the video on Aran-Isles.com
>

Pádraic Connolly takes a trip to the
Aran islands

Tourism Ireland recently launched the series of films which feature
real local characters from around the island of Ireland introducing
their favourite 'hidden gems'. Galwayman Pádraic Connolly was selected
from the 1,000+ people across the island who applied to take part, to
tell viewers and potential holidaymakers around the world about some of
his favourite places in his home county.

In the film, Pádraic takes the viewer on a journey around Connemara
- highlighting the spectacular scenery and beautiful coastline. He
begins in Roundstone Harbour where he meets some of the local
fishermen. He continues to the beautiful Coral Strand at Carraroe and
then it is on to his own birthplace, Rossaveal, and from there to Inis
Mór. Throughout the film, he regales the viewer with his many tales
and legends - including a story about the local man who disappeared at
the Worm Hole on Inis Mór! He finishes his journey on Inis Oírr with
its cluster of ancient ruins.

"Visitors repeatedly tell us that what distinguishes the island of
Ireland from other destinations - what sets us apart from our
competitors - is our people and our scenery", said Laughlin Rigby,
eMarketing Manager, Tourism Ireland. "This online movie, presented by
Pádraic, provides an added dimension of information on the many
attractions on offer in Co Galway, in a novel and entertaining way".

"Customers are not just searching for the lowest fare any more; they
are seeking information and recommendations on the perfect holiday
experience - where to go, what to see and do and where to eat. These
movies complement our new global advertising campaign 'Go Where Ireland
Takes You'. The campaign has been designed to capture the spontaneity
and fun of holidaying here and to show that some of the most wonderful
and memorable experiences you are likely to have here will be stumbled
on by chance", Rigby added.

The ten films or 'webisodes', which have been translated into five
European languages, feature on Tourism Ireland's suite of 41 websites
and are also being promoted in its main overseas markets on Yahoo. The
films will also feature on a new promotional DVD, which will be
distributed to potential holidaymakers in the all-important GB market
during August. To see the films, visit www.discoverireland.com/go

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to turn a historic 19th century Lighthouse at the highest point of Inis Mór in the Aran Islands into a teahouse has been approved, despite seriolus concerns about the plans.

The lighthouse is one of the dominant landmarks of Aran, beside Dun Eochla, a major prehistoric monument of the island. Eochaill ( Oughill ) derives its name from Dún
Eochla, a late Bronze Age ring fort. The name means Yew wood "Eo
Choill".

This fort commands some of Aran's most spectacular views. From
here, on a clear day 5 counties can be seen, Kerry, Limerick , Clare,
Galway and Mayo.

To the west is the
old signal tower; built in 1799 after the 1789 rebellion to protect
Ireland's west coast from Spanish or French invasion. Similar buildings can be seen on Golam Island
and Inis Oirr. Signals were sent by light and semaphores - flags.

Beside
this is the island's first lighthouse which began its short working
life on a May Day 1818. Unfortunately the lighthouse was ill positioned
and was blind to ships in the Gregory Sound and when rounding Earrach
Island to the west. It was decommissioned when new lighthouses were
constructed in Killeaney Bay and on Earrach Island to the west, though
it was manned during both world wars. Hat tip Aran Pony & trap Tours

An appeal against the development by An Taisce, the national trust for Ireland has failed, and An
Bord Pleanála has given the project the go-ahead. A report by the planning inspector Louise Kiernan on 9 April last said "the proposed development would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area."

As often happens in Ireland, political pressure led to Galway county
council granting permission for the controversial plan last yea. An Taisce then appealed the decision only to be overruled by An
Bord Pleanála last week.

Dun Arann Signal Tower and Lighthouse, both of which are National Monuments and Protected Structures are close to the development which is located in a designated Natural Heritage area and Special Area of Conservation. The archaeological fort of Dun Eochla, which is also a National Monument is close by. There is also a wedge tomb located between the subject site and Dun Eochla Fort.

An
Bord Pleanála previously ruled that "'The introduction of a modern house on the site of the Lighthouse and located in close proximity to Oghil Fort which is a National Monument, would be out of character with and seriously detract from the historical importance of theLighthouse and from the archaeological significance, natural setting andtourism potential of Oghill Fort. "

It went on to say it would "would seriously injure the visualamenities of the area and be contrary to the proper planning and development."

In her report Ms Kernan noted that the "Aran Islands by their nature are rich in archaeological finds. As such it is a very sensitive archaeological site.

Aer Arann's very own Peggy Hernon has written a collection of short stories
chronicling her experience working with Aer Arann Islands and life in
Connemara. Peggy's colourful and descriptive style is sure to draw you
in.
Peggy is a member of the Ground Operations staff at Inis Mor
Airport. She was born in the Bronx in New York, attended NYU and worked
on Wall street for 18 years. She moved over to Inis Mor in 1990 where
she married Micheal Hernon, Inis Mor Airport Manager and has been
living on the island ever since.
Below is a collection of some of her short stories of life on The Islands. We hope you like them!

The
Shannon rescue helicopter is taken for granted now in the skies above
the west coast as it approaches its 20th birthday, but it took a series
of tragedies before the crucial service was established

A HAG OR
"cailleach" was chasing Cuchulainn across Loop Head, Co Clare, when he
leaped onto a rock several metres offshore. She attempted to follow
him, fell into the sea, and her body was washed up on the headland
named after her.

Were she to repeat her unfortunate experience
now, the "cailleach" might well have survived and found herself at the
end of a winch suspended from Shannon's Irish Coast Guard air-sea
helicopter.

Airman Jim O'Neill might even have told her a few
jokes to calm her, having already spotted her in the briny with his
heat-seeking infrared camera before leaving the aircraft by cable and
karabiner with his bag of parademical gear.

For just as Hag's
Head is a distinctive part of the southern Clare shoreline, so the
Shannon rescue helicopter has become an institution - taken for granted
now in the skies above the west coast as it approaches its 20th
birthday.

On a Sunday evening training mission, its presence is
a subconscious comfort for the novice surfers - resembling diving
beetles - navigating the swell off Lahinch, and the passengers on the
Doolin-Inis Oírr ferry. An indigo Atlantic seems deceptively tranquil
as the Sikorsky S-61 sweeps over the weathered rock buttresses forming
the Cliffs of Moher.

There's a constant patter on the high-
frequency radio, with talk about results of football matches mingling
with communications between Shannon air-traffic control and the
helicopter, call sign Golf Charlie Echo. Should that call sign change
to Rescue 115, it is a signal that the training run has become a rescue
"tasking".

"Bring some money and your mobile phone," Capt Cathal
Oakes had advised this reporter, before becoming airborne with co-pilot
Micheal Moriarty, winch operator Ciarán McHugh and winchman Jim
O'Neill. "Just in case we have to drop you down somewhere en route."

It
didn't arise; but when Capt Oakes donned a pair of plastic glasses,
almost completely covered in tape, it was a reminder that even a
routine training flight is accomplished under pressure. The glasses
simulate night-time conditions. There will be several more exercises by
crew members, each having to update his skills constantly, before we
land.

Ironically, the most successful missions are often those
no one hears about. Only a fraction of the more than 3,000 rescue
flights Shannon has recorded over the past two decades have made
headlines.

IT WASN'T ALWAYS like this, as those who campaigned
over decades for adequate aerial support for the Royal National
Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) clearly remember. Back in 1958, the crash
of Hugo de Groot , a KLM flight, off Galway, with the loss of 99 lives, prompted such demands.

"Many
people will wonder why air-sea rescue operations should have to be co-
ordinated from Scotland and southern England when the accident took
place within the air-traffic control area of Shannon Airport. Had there
been a helicopter in the Republic - not necessarily at Shannon - it
could have searched the crash scene by mid-afternoon at latest," this
newspaper reported on August 15th, 1958.

There were to be more
such calls, particularly from the fishing industry, over subsequent
decades. For although pioneering Air Corps pilots undertook many
rescues from Baldonnel from as early as 1963, capability was severely
restricted by geographical location and helicopter flying range. Much
of the coastline was dependent on the goodwill of Britain, principally
through the RAF.

It took the death of Donegal skipper John
Oglesby on the deck of his boat, Neptune, off the north Mayo coastline
in 1988 to change all that. Oglesby, whose son was among the crew, had
his leg severed by a trawl warp.

The nearest lifeboat station at
the time was Arranmore, Co Donegal. By RAF calculations, the vessel
would have reached port before the closest available helicopter would
have reached it. Oglesby bled to death within sight of land.

Joan
McGinley was distraught and angry at the manner in which Oglesby, a
close friend of her partner, had died. After a public meeting in
Killybegs not long after the accident, McGinley established the west
coast search-and-rescue campaign, run with a group of people including
Aran Island GP Dr Marion Broderick, Joey Murrin of the Killybegs
Fishermen's Organisation, Bryan Casburn of the Galway and Aran
Fishermen's Co-op, former Naval Service commanders Eamonn Doyle and
Paddy Kavanagh, former Air Corps pilot Comdt Fergus O'Connor and
solicitor Peter Murphy.

Its single-issue focus yielded swift
results. An interdepartmental review group, chaired by former garda
commissioner Eamon Doherty, recommended that the Air Corps place a
Dauphin helicopter on permanent 24-hour standby at Shannon as an
interim measure - and so the first dedicated west coast air-sea base
was in operation by September 1989.

A final report recommended
that a medium-range helicopter service be provided to the State on
contract from Shannon, with an operating radius of 200 nautical miles,
and that the Air Corps Dauphin at Shannon be relocated to Finner
military base in Co Donegal.

The Irish Coast Guard also owes its
origins to that report, and to McGinley's campaign. The first coast
guard director, Capt Liam Kirwan, effected a radical transformation of
capability, assisted by the RNLI, which moved rapidly to open a new
lifeboat station in Ballyglass, Co Mayo, as part of a further expansion.

NOW
RUN BY Chris Reynolds, the Irish Coast Guard service can provide
coastal, offshore, mountain and inland rescue. Aircraft cross the
Border when requested and can assist Britain when required.

Shannon
became a commercial rescue base within two years, with Irish
Helicopters initially replacing the Air Corps. Air-sea rescue bases at
Sligo (replacing Finner camp), Dublin and Waterford were to follow,
with the contract for all four now held by CHC Helicopters.

Capt Dave Courtney, a former search-and-rescue pilot, recalls in his recent autobiography,
Nine Lives , how operating procedures blended the best of
experience from the RAF, Royal Navy, Air Corps, British Coastguard and
commercial companies serving the North Sea oil industry.

Challenges,
such as the near ditching of the Shannon helicopter shortly before
Christmas 1993, helped to refine those procedures.

The S-61 had been called out to assist an Irish-registered Spanish fishing vessel,
Dunboy , with 13 crew on board, which had lost engine power
some 65km west of Slyne Head in winds of up to 150km an hour. Winchman
John McDermott had just landed on the vessel's deck in a heaving sea
when the boat listed 70 degrees, the cable broke and about 120ft
wrapped itself around the aircraft's blades. A Mayday call was issued,
but the helicopter, flown by Capt Nick Gribble and co-pilot Carmel
Kirby managed to recover and fly to Galway, leaving McDermott to be
picked up by the RAF hours later.

Not only has flying become
safer, but the decision to approve paramedic training for use by winch
crew on missions has also helped to save lives. "We used to scoop and
run to the nearest hospital," O'Neill explains. "Now we can give
certain types of treatment en route."

Even before that
particular development, the Shannon S-61 had marked its first emergency
birth. On March 17th, 1996, Sorcha Ní Fhlatharta saw first light of day
in the helicopter cabin, when her mother, Mairéad, delivered her with
the assistance of two nurses and the helicopter crew en route from Inis
Oírr to University Hospital Galway.

"The crew were great and it
was a sort of a distraction," the mother said some years afterwards. "I
really didn't have time to think about the pain."

TRAMORE TRAGEDY: 'SERIOUS DEFICIENCIES'

Even as Shannon prepares to celebrate two decades serving
the coastline, helicopter and maintenance crews will also remember the
sacrifice of colleagues - notably the four members of the Air Corps who
died 10 years ago this week in the Dauphin helicopter crash at Tramore,
Co Waterford.

Capt Dave O'Flaherty, Capt Michael Baker, Sgt
Paddy Mooney and Cpl Niall Byrne were returning from the first night of
the rescue mission in the early hours of July 2nd, 1999, when their
helicopter collided with a sand dune in thick fog.

The official investigation highlighted "serious deficiencies" in the support given the four crew.

The
four had only learned on July 1st - the day the search-and-rescue base
at Waterford Airport was converted to 24-hour cover - that there was no
provision for after-hours air-traffic control. An agreement had not
been concluded by the Department of Defence and the airport management.

The
report by the investigation unit specifically noted that considerable
pressure was brought to bear on the late Capt OFlaherty, as detachment
commander, to accept the rescue mission in search of a small boat with
four adults and a child.

In June 2008, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea awarded posthumous Distinguished Service Medals to the crew of Dauphin 248.

NO
MATTER HOW many times I fly to Inis Meáin I still get a thrill when the
twin engines of Aer Arann's Britten-Norman Islander roar at full
throttle as the aircraft leaves Connemara airport, in Inverin, for the
hop to the island.

On this visit we took off in a dismal grey
downpour, but on rounding the shore the clouds parted, the stony fields
came into view and we landed softly on the runway as the sun broke
through.

We were going to the opening of an exhibition of JM
Synge's photographs at Inis Meáin Knitting Company's lovely shop and to
stay a night at Inis Meáin Restaurant Suites, a short walk away.

Designed
in keeping with the natural environment by the architect Shane de
Blácam, a regular visitor to the island, the long, low-lying,
cut-limestone building, bisected by a horizontal line of glass, seems
to rise from the stone plateau on which it is constructed. It's an
impressive sight.

Ruairí de Blácam, an islander and qualified
chef, and his wife, Marie-Thérèse, who worked in the fashion industry,
fulfilled their long-standing dream of opening a restaurant with rooms
on Inis Meáin a year ago.

Their three very spacious suites are
constructed and furnished to a high standard, with mesmerising
panoramic views of the sea and mainland. Each one, with stuccoed lime
walls and wooden floors, is simply but stylishly furnished with a
comfortable double bed dressed in white cotton and grey alpaca throws.

Colours
reflect the landscape. A wooden bench and a sofa upholstered in grey
tweed, with alpaca cushions in shades of grey, provide seating,
although you would need a higher chair to use the long wooden window
shelf as a desk. The only decorations are black-and-white photographs
of the island and vases of wild flowers.

A five-compartment
sideboard contains the following: a fridge with chocolate, carrageen,
water, wine, champagne, spirits, anchovies, tuna, salami, cheese,
butter, marmalade and jam; a kettle, tea, coffee and a mini microwave;
cups, saucers, plates, glasses and cutlery; hot-water bottles, a
hairdryer, a basket, a sewing kit and deodorants; and Scrabble, a chess
set and playing cards.

The adjoining small bathroom has polished granite walls, a shower, a basin and a heated towel rail.

Outside,
two mountain bikes are stored on a small self-contained patio with
outdoor seating, along with fishing rods complete with tackle.

Maps
and books of interest, such as those of Tim Robinson on the Aran
Islands, Sean Scully and even the latest book on Synge, edited by
Nicholas Grene, are also provided, along with a thoughtful guest
information booklet listing 10 things you should do on Inis Meáin.
Who'd want a television with all that and such a view outside?

The
small but well-chosen restaurant menu majors on seafood caught by
island fishermen, including crab, skate and lobster, and local
vegetables.

Starters, such as goat's cheese salad with walnuts
and sherry vinaigrette, are served with home-made brown bread; main
courses include roast skate with French beans and hazelnuts, with new
potatoes. Starters cost €5.50-€12.50, main courses cost €17-€27 and
desserts cost €7.

Wine is about €5.50 a glass; the list offered seven reds and seven whites, all French, from €22 to €48 and €60 a bottle.

Breakfast
is not served in the restaurant but delivered on a tray to the suites.
Ours was an Irish and international selection. It had Karmine Irish
apple juice, toasted hazelnut muesli, pineapple and strawberry salad,
Gubbeen cheese, saucisson, coppa (Italian sausage), scones and "island
boiled eggs".

The de Blácams have a burgeoning vegetable garden
below the restaurant and a wooden palais des poulets housing 10 Rhode
Island Reds that provide the breakfast eggs. Other plans in store for
this sheltered field will generate even more produce for the table.

I've
stayed in various bed and breakfasts on Inis Meáin over the years, all
of them friendly, welcoming places, but the suites provide a new level
of luxury and privacy that makes them extra special for an island
getaway.

We got up early on Sunday, before breakfast, and went
for a long cycle along the island's labyrinthine lanes, passing
wild-flower meadows, fields of potatoes and the occasional local. In
others, sheep or cows with calves gazed out in contentment into the
distance, just like ourselves.

Meet Padraic | Q&A

Question: So, you were a Lobster fisherman in your youth, what was that like?

Answer:
I was a lobster fisherman for about two years when I was about sixteen.
We'd go out in a currach, which is a traditional rowing boat. We'd drop
the pots, of various different types, in the hope to find a lobster, or
ten, when we'd return the next day. Back then everyone lived off the
sea... and back then the lobsters were more plentiful. I have wonderful
memories of those days. We all have a great connection here with the
sea.

Question: The sailboats we see in the video, these are unique to this part of Ireland, right?

Answer:
That's the Galway hooker; you'll find them all along the coast from
Galway city to Connemara. All those boats you see are built by hand
here in Connemara. They were mainly used for transporting goods from
village to village or to the city.

Question: Tell me more about the Worm's Hole; I'm fascinated by this...

Answer:
Isn't it amazing; I mean where you would find it! Divers have come here
from America, France, Australia and they drop into the worms' hole and
not one has touched the bottom. It's a mystery. That's nature for you.

Question: What is the most ideal time of year to visit the Connemara coastline?

Answer:
The middle of July, when the sky is clear and blue, and the sea, the
same. There's no place on earth as nice. It's heaven. But, if you get
clear day in winter, it's just as amazing.

Question: You grew up here; all this open landscape is your backyard...

Answer:
I did, and you can walk for miles through these fields and nobody will
bother you. If you have the stamina, there's a boreen nearby in
Rossaveal that leads to a Martello tower - a round tower with cannon on
the roof - just by the edge of the sea. The tower has been there since
the 1850's, it must be the only one along the west coast. It has a well
inside it. Most of these towers are museums in other countries; here
you'd hardly know it existed. It's not advertised. This whole area is
not commercialized.

Question: I'm very interested in the coral sand beach...

Answer:
It's in Carraroe...one of only two coral beaches in Ireland. The other
one is supposed to be in Kerry, but nobody's ever seen it, so I
wonder... but this is a pure coral beach and it's absolutely just
beautiful. I must do more research on coral beaches in Ireland; there's
not been any research on this that I'm aware of...

A world champion diver has successfully completed a death-defying stunt at one of Ireland's most remote spots - The Serpent's Lair or Poll na Peist on Inis Mor on the Aran Islands.

Colombian
Orlando Duque travelled to Inis Mór on the Aran Islands last weekend to
jump 26m (78ft) into the Serpent's Lair or Poll na Peist - a blowhole
carved out by Atlantic swells.

The 34-year-old made the dive as he prepares for competition in France next month.

"The Serpent's Lair is one of those places that you only hear stories about," Duque said.

"Finding
the place and being able to dive there was one of the highlights of my
career. Hopefully in the future we can bring a cliff diving competition
to Ireland."

The Serpent's lair is a near-perfect rectangular
hole, chiselled out of rock at the bottom of cliffs on Inis Mor. In
ancient mythology it was home to a Sea Serpent and the sound of
screeching stormy winds is said to be the monster making its presence
felt.

Nine-time world champion Duque has dived from as high as 34m, with the cliff-top jump filmed for the "9Dives" feature.

"There's
a gigantic difference between 26 and 34 meters. The pool looks as small
as a pinhead, and the water is as hard as concrete. The slightest error
and ... No, it's better not even to think about it," Duque said.

Cliff diving involves athletes leaping into water from heights of 23m to 28m for men and 18m to 23m for women.

Divers
have about three seconds to co-ordinate their forms and movements
before they hit the surface of the water at around 100km/h with a flat
landing, known as a pancake, compared with landing on concrete from 13m.

Duque travelled to Ireland as part of his training for the Red Bull Cliff Diving Series on May 8 in La Rochelle, France.

When you arrive at Ard Mhuire, a pretty B&B overlooking the harbour on Inis Oirr, with three young tearaways, it is a comfort to learn that Brendan Behan once stayed there for six months without being barred.

Behan was one of a long line of artists attracted to the Irish-speaking Aran Islands, off the west coast of Ireland, by the rich history, primitive way of life and austere beauty, but for him the relaxed licensing laws may have been the clincher.

Many tourists misguidedly treat the islands as a day-trip, and visit only Inis Mór, literally the big island, which even a century ago the playwright J.M.Synge, the islands' most famous chronicler, found too commercialised. He swiftly decamped to Inishmaan, which inspired The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea.

Synge had to do his island-hopping by currach, a precarious canoe-like craft made of tarred canvas that can still be seen upturned on the shore

The celebration of "islomania" behind this book is nothing to do
with being a helpful travel guide; nor can its remit be scientifically
defined. "We went by instinct in the end," write its authors, as
they struggle to define what gives a place its "islandness". And
fine instincts they were, too. The Book of Islands, by Philip Dodd and Ben
Donald (Palazzo Editions, £30), has winnowed the selection down to 200 of
the world's most islandy examples, starting at the International Date Line
with Tonga and the Chatham Islands, the first places to greet each new day,
and tracking the sun west towards Samoa.

Thus we have Baffin in Canada (bigger than Germany) compared, probably for the
first time, to the Lake Palace in Udaipur. Islands closer to home - the Aran
Islands and the Isle of Wight - find they have much in common with Bora Bora
(right), Ibiza, Robben Island and Bikini. The authors even suggest an
islomaniac cocktail, which might be more appealing to visit than to drink:
Curaçao, Madeira, Rum and Islay whisky. The tragedy is that many of these
paradises, such as the Maldives, are at risk from rising sea levels. Peter
Jackson perhaps puts it best: "New Zealand is not a small country but a
large village," he writes.

The inhabitants of the Faroe Islands have been told that
pilot whales no longer be considered fit for human consumption, because
they are toxic - as revealed by research on the Faroes themselves.

The remote Atlantic islands, situated between Scotland and Iceland, have been one of the last strongholds of traditional whaling, with thousands of small pilot whales killed every year, and eaten by most Faroese.

Many claim their weather changes rapidly, pointing to that with pride.
I challenge anyone to match Inis Meain. At the moment, the sun is
shining out the back of our cottage....casting a shadow of the window
frame on our wall....while out the front window, rain is spattering
against it, the wind is blowing quite nicely and the sea between Inis
Meain and Inis Mor is, if not angry, at the very least a bit cranky.

ISLAND CHILDREN from Co
Mayo walked in the steps of famous Edwardian naturalist Robert Lloyd
Praeger after members of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) launched two
volumes of the new Survey of Clare Island at the weekend.

Speaking in
the island's community centre, before the field trips, RIA president
Nicholas Canny observed that Praeger - who was the academy's first
president - had travelled the entire country before choosing Clare
Island as the place to carry out the ground-breaking "microscopic study
of how things worked in the environment".